The Senate confirmed 77 presidential nominees by voice vote Wednesday, as it raced to finish its business for the 115th Congress and adjourn, sine die, by noon Thursday – when the 116th Congress takes its place.
Not among the 77: three nominees for seats on federal financial institution regulators.
The nominations of Marvin Goodfriend (for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board), Jean Nellie Liang (also for the Federal Reserve) and Rodney Hood (for a Republican seat on the National Credit Union Administration [NCUA] Board) will all be returned to the president. The president has the option to resubmit them or consider new nominees for the positions.
Goodfriend was nominated by President Donald Trump Nov. 30, 2017. He testified before a Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearing about a year ago (Jan. 23, 2018); the committee approved his nomination for a vote in the Senate Feb. 8 – by a 13-12 vote along party lines.
The other two nominations never got as far in the process: Hood (nominated by the White House June 20) and Liang (nominated Sept. 28) never received Senate Banking hearings on their nominations.
The 77 nominations approved Wednesday included 23 ambassadors, eight U.S. attorneys, eight U.S. Marshals, two members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and a variety of other federal officials. However, the list of nominations excluded those for federal judges.